Public address systems are commonly used to make announcements or otherwise convey information to attendees at live events (e.g., meetings, sporting events, concerts, etc.). Frequently a public address system is used to amplify the volume of the voice of an announcer at the event, in an attempt to allow attendees to hear what the announcer is saying. Regardless, attendees at an event are often unable to clearly hear announcements made via a public address system. This issue may be attributable to a variety of factors, such as poor sound quality, high noise (e.g., from a crowd), the location of an attendee at the time the announcement is made (e.g., in the bathroom), etc. Some attendees at live events may therefore miss public address announcements, despite attempts to hear and understand them.
Many public address systems are also ill equipped to serve the needs of attendees that may suffer from one or more disabilities, such as hearing impairment. Indeed such attendees may not be able to hear or understand announcements made via a public address system, even if other attendees may be able to hear and understand such announcements. For these and other reasons, some public address systems include a display (e.g., electronic signage) on which text relating to an auditory announcement may be displayed. Although effective in some circumstances, such displays often only display text correlating to an auditory announcement for a limited period of time. The display may also be positioned such that not all attendees can view the text, and/or it may display text that is in a language that one or more attendees may not understand. Moreover, the displayed text often differs from the content of a spoken announcement, e.g., made by a public address announcer.
Finally in many events a public address system may not be provided, or may be provided but would disturb the event if used to provide auditory announcements to attendees in particular locations. In such instances it may be difficult to provide announcements of interest to some attendees, particularly those that are located in a location where auditory announcements may be disruptive.